Movie Time
by MaddieIsWhatIAm
Summary: What happens when Natalie suggests that the family should go to the movies?


**A/N: So, the inspiration for this story came from two sources. 1- the story Dr. Madden Goes to the Movies by iNvIsIbLe GiRl 12 and 2- a text conversation with my best friend Melainy about wanting to go to the movies.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Next to Normal or Charlie St. Cloud. Thank you for coming to and enjoy your story.**

-At the Goodman house, around 6:45-

"God, we never do anything fun," Natalie complained at dinner one night. She was bored. She had been grounded from her phone for being caught plagarising on her latest creative writing essay by her English teacher. Natalie was going through serious technology withdrawal, not to mention boyfriend withdrawal. She couldn't text Henry and complain about her life if she didn't have her phone, now could she? "Can't we go out and do normal family stuff?"

"Well, why don't we go to the movies?" Dan suggested. He had been wanting to get out of the house as well. He'd never tell Diana, but putting up with some of her psychobabble made him want to go out and do "normal family stuff" to remind himself that he was part of a family and not a cheap rate therapist bound to one patient.

"Okay," said Diana, drawing faces with the food on her plate. "Just let me ask Gabe if he wants to go to. Hey Gabe, do you want to go to the movies with me, your dad, and your sister?"

"Sure," he answered. "That might be fun. More fun than hanging around this place, anyways." Gabe was just looking around, bored with his surroundings. Sure, he could go anywhere, but why when he could stay with his mom?

"We can go. Gabe said he'd love that," Diana informed an exhausted looking Dan and an exasperated Natalie.

"Alright," said Dan, jumping up enthusiastically. "Let's go right now." He would do anything to get out of the house and NOT be going to a doctor's office.

"Yay," said a sarcastic Natalie. "Nothing like a fun Friday night with my psycho mom, my overly enthusiastic dad, and my dead brother. That just screams fun."

"Natalie," Dan warned. Diana wasn't paying attention, though, so it didn't matter.

"Fine," sighed Natalie. She stood up, grabbed her coat, and walked to the car.

-In the movie theater, before the movie-

"Okay, let's get started," Natalie grumbled at the repeating commercials. She just wanted the movie to start so she could pay attention to someone else's screwed up life and not hers.

"HEY NATALIE!" screamed Diana from the back row. "CAN YOU GO GET MORE POPCORN? GABE WANTS SOME AND I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TO SHARE."

Natalie's eyes closed slowly in frustration as she slunk down in her chair, her hands balled into tight fists. She really could not WAIT for the movie to start. As she thought that, the lights dimmed and the movie started.

-In the middle of the movie-

"Charlie St. Cloud. That name sounds familiar. Hey wait, I know that kid," Gabe said, pointing to the character named Sam.

"Honey, how could you know that kid? This is a movie," Diana said to the seemingly empty seat next to her.

"Yeah, well what they don't tell you is that this is based off a true story. No one alive knows though. But Sam? Yeah, him and I are old pals. We hang out every day and play ball. We really like sports, so we hit it off pretty well. I remember him showing up like it was yesterday. He looked scared, but I showed him the ropes. Boy, was he glad when I showed him how to talk to his brother Charlie. We never hang out much any more. Not since he talked Charlie into going after this one girl. I personally told Sam to tell Charlie to forget the girl and stay with him, but he's stubborn." Gabe explained.

Diana's eyes got watery, and she ran out of the theater.

-The next day, Natalie's bedroom-

"I am NEVER going to the movies with my family again," Natalie said into her phone, pacing around her room. "Especially not when they let the dead kid pick the movie."

"Hey, it was a learning experience. You've learned to never suggest normal things to your family, your mom learned that she shouldn't let Gabe pick movies, and Dan's learned to never jump on an opportunity to go out in public with his wife off medication," Henry said to Natalie.

"Henry, she ran out of the movie, crying and screaming at thin air!" Natalie said into the phone.

Henry chuckled quietly. He could just picture it now. Diana running out of the theater, followed closely by Dan and an exasperated Natalie trudging along a bit behind him, screaming, "Gabe! How could you! You picked a sad movie and you told me it was true! And then you ruined the ending! I can't take you to the movies again, ever!" to an empty space beside her. "Natalie, isn't seeing dead people a gift? Okay, so maybe it wasn't for Hayley Joel Osment in _The Sixth Sense_, but it was for Zac Efron, wasn't it? Maybe what your mom does is similar to that?" he said, trying to calm down an almost hyperventilating Natalie.

"No way. From now on, I'm only going to the movies with you," she promised.

"And we can sit in our special seats in the back row," he said, smiling.

"Absolutely. Good thing for Yahoo! movie reviews online, otherwise I'd never know what we were seeing, and then I wouldn't have anything to tell my dad."

**A/N: Okay, longest oneshot I've written. Reviews?**


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